Diamond Tooth Taxidermy Blog:

Here is a 12 point deer trophy mount that took me over a year to mount: The hunter picked him up today and I believe he was satisfied. Even though I've been doing this job for years, I still worry that the client may not be completely thrilled with the final product. It's challenging to be an artist and pour your heart and soul into a piece, even if it's technically a commercial venture,

This is a little lamb baby that was gifted to me from my 4H enthusiast pal who raises goats. So I guess it's actually a little baby goat. I still get them mixed up. Anyway, I had it soft tanned with the intent on making a plush mount that could be cuddled, but once I got it bag I realised it would make an excellent bag. And voila!I made a carcass cast of the head using a silicone mold,

Meet Bijoux. She's the much beloved pet Dumbo Rat of a client and she passed away one night after living with a large cancerous tumor in her belly for some time. It was my client's wish to have her preserved elegantly and regally, so we opted for a plush pillow to sit her on and some head embellishment. I would up using a vintage Betsey Jonson charm as a crown of sorts, and couldn't

Bird is the word. Here are some photos of a finished pheasant and a mallard drake I mounted for one of my favorite clients. I finished these pieces a while ago but am only just now getting around to photographing them. Unfortunately these pictures aren't so great; I didn't set up my back drop for the duck, and the pheasant was difficult to properly photograph because it's a hanging mount.

Or from Wisameckhan, which is Lenape for "Catfish Stream".This beast was caught on worm from the Wissahickon Creek here in Philly by my client, and it has been a saga of a commission for this taxidermist. I'm not crazy about doing fish, but this guy has a happy ending.He arrived at my shop frozen; once thawed he wasn't looking so great. I was disappointed to learn that catfish are just

I recently sent some pieces to Hendricks Gin as environmental decor for one of their many famed Wondrous Affairs. This one took place in Chicago and while I have yet to find photo documentation of my pieces in action, I trust the entire presentation was nothing short of tremendous. I've had a friendship with Hendricks for some time, in fact one of my favorite interviews was with their blog back

Jack and Jill lived in a tree, until the tree was cut down and both baby squirrels were rendered homeless. A kind woman took them in and raised them, and while Jack thrived, Jill had a difficult time as she was born with a cleft palette and eating was tremendously difficult. As I write this I wonder-if their home hadn't been destroyed, Jill may have perished much sooner than she did. Perhaps

Hola Koko!Koko is the very much beloved 15+ year old pet Gaucamayo of one of the most delightful families I've had the pleasure of meeting through my work as a taxidermist. It's profoundly touching to meet folks who care for their critters so deeply. Koko's humans were in tears when they brought him to me; yet were still able to chuckle as they told me of how he would cuss in Spanish to

Say hello to my furry friend. Well, he's not mine anymore, he's now in the hands of his rightful owner, a great guy who commissioned me to create a soft-mount taxidermy piece out of the dead skunk he brought me back in November. I not only created the mount, but I saved the essence and ate the meat. But I'm sure you already guessed that. His face was chewed up a bit by a possum

Here we have a chicken head mounted trophy style onto a plaque, a glass votive holder dangling from his beak. While burning a candle in this vessel would obviously be a terrible thing to do, it would make a great spare key holder or place to keep your favorite trinkets. Maybe he can hold some salt for you to pinch off a little bit each time you need to throw some over your shoulder. If

This is the skull of Bilal the cat, a beloved member of my dear friends' family. When he passed, they gave him to me to make something with. I brain tanned his hide and transformed him into a luxurious fur stole, of which I sadly have no photos. W & R were instrumental in my early development as a taxidermy artist; I couldn't have made it without their guidance and generosity.

Ashley approached me almost a year before her wedding date to talk about bridal & bridal party head pieces. I believe her words were, "OK, I'm engaged, now I have to go talk to my taxidermist!"-she may or may not have used the word "my" but I like to fancy myself as providing such an intimate service to people that they would refer to me in a possessive fashion, as though part of me belongs

Here's just a couple pictures of a custom Baculum I made for a friend; she wanted something to incorporate with her 3-D printed diamond charm so voila: She also commissioned me to make a piece of "junior couture taxidermy" for a friend of hers who was just ready to dip her toe into the wearable taxidermy world. I thought a shortened starling foot would be ideal, as it's not too explicit.

Meet Thumper. He was the beloved hamster of my friend A, and when he passed she envisioned him curled up in eternal dream state with a pair of blue butterfly wings. I was truly honored that she would entrust me with the task of preserving her pet, and thankfully when I presented the finished product to her today, she was pleased. Anyone who knows me knows that small mammals are

Here we have a pair of deer hoof candle holders that were commissioned by a client who basically told me to do whatever I wanted. She knew I was going in a kind of psychedelic direction with them when she contacted me after seeing a work in progress shot on my Instagram feed and put a down payment on them. She received them today and is beyond pleased, which pleases me tremendously. I

PRESS PLAY.While editing these photos, a Doors song drifted out of Pandora and it felt so apropos. Then, and now, Today by Jefferson Airplane is on and it's stopped me in my tracks. Well, not so much that I can't write but it's taking me to a very specific place.Almost 20 summers ago, for my best friend in the whole entire world's birthday, I was able to buy 4 tabs of acid from some jabroni

Meet Z the Pitbull. His humans had planned ahead as he was sick for some time, and brought him straight to me from the vet after euthanizing. They just wanted the skull cleaned and articulated, the rest was up to me. Aside from burying skulls to let nature do the job, my experience in this department is limited to smaller creatures like rabbits and pheasants. This was a more

I just shot this fresh batch of sheep hoof candle holders yesterday; I'll be listing on etsy later this morning. I call this pair the dancers. I experimented with posing and got as close to an on pointe stance as I could. The bases and candle cups are pieces harvested from antique silver candle holders.Evoking a ballet costume, I needed sequins or some sort of flash. I used

Hi! This lil sweetie was possibly my most humbling mount to date (well, aside from that Sharpie Hawk) because of its petite size and tissue paper thin skin. Above, you can see all the holes I made while skinning it. A colleague used the term "wet toilet paper" to describe their dermis, which is pretty spot on. But she turned out pretty swell, in my opinion, and my client's-which

Arriving in my studio from Italy by way of Philadelphia import, this Borsalino hat is a classic. I received it from a painter in my building and held onto it until inspiration struck. I love men's hats, I love men IN hats, but I also find designing for them to be challenging. Us gals can get away with anything, in my opinion. Men still seem to be held up to certain gender expressive

Hi! Kika was the 18 year old beloved parrot who brightened the days of my client, Berta. She was in tears the day she brought her in to me. When she came in today to pick her up, there were more tears- thankfully the sweet happy kind. Berta brought her son (who is just one year older than Kika, btw) and he told me that my studio smelled "like sadness and dreams" which

Here are some photos of a pair of deer hoof candle holders I finished and shot today. The deer was harvested by a hunter who is using all the venison and passed the hide onto be soft tanned to make a rug. The legs are a nice by product I was happy to collect. I will be listing these on my etsy page shortly so if they strike your fancy, claim them! The bases and candle cups are from

Oh, hello there: Meet Mrs. Friendly, the much loved pet chicken of a client who wished to have her immortalized. Apparently, Mrs. Friendly was an ornery, no nonsense hen with an intense glare. She suffered no fools. She also had asymmetrical hips, with a pronounced hump above her right hip bone/back area. I'm guessing this may have caused a limp which must have only added

I've been in possession of a bag of fox vertebrae for some time now; about a year ago I articulated a few with the intention of making a cool neck piece. I finally finished it today. Once I'd decided the exact design, I needed to source the beads and hardware. The beads are glass and I wore them all around my wrists for a week to infuse them with my own energy and also because glass

In what has been a long an arduous process (not for me, really, all I had to do was sit back and wait) the folks at Bartram's Gardens acquired a Federal Salvage Permit so that I could become their on call taxidermist for such fantastic specimen as the Sharp Shinned Hawk I'm writing about today, a sweet little Vireo and above all, a Great Blue Heron. The Heron was the impetus for obtaining my

Meet chichi, a pet preservation project I recently completed after about 7 painstaking months. I believe she is a Pyrrhura Conure breed, but will gladly accept corrections. Her human was quite distraught when she brought her to me, and spoke very little English to boot. What I could tell is that this bird wasn't in great shape. I know very little about the world of keeping birds